


Lead Me to Salvation

by Patcho418



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Introspection, Missing Scene, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 01:42:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30031125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patcho418/pseuds/Patcho418
Summary: SPOILERS FOR RWBY: V8E12!! Read at your own discretion!***Winter hopes to do something good to finally quiet the self-loathing rampaging in her own mind, but perhaps she'll find the hope she needs in some unexpected allies.
Relationships: Robyn Hill/Winter Schnee
Comments: 10
Kudos: 83





	Lead Me to Salvation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gayxiaolong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayxiaolong/gifts).



_ Ding. _

(You’re broken. Battered. How do you think you’re ever going to be able to stop him?)

_ Ding. _

(No one will ever believe you’ve changed. No one will ever believe you’re on their side.)

_ Ding. _

(It’s too late to do what’s right.)

_ Ding.  _

(You’ve spent your rounds.)

_ Ding. _

(You’ve drawn your blade.)

_ Ding. _

(That blood is on your hands.)

(Your hands.)

Winter’s fingers curl against the worn leather palms of her gloves, and she grimaces at the spark of sharp pain the gesture sends up her arms. Between every  _ ding _ of the elevator, Winter’s thoughts bear down on her with all the weight of the metal plates strapped to her shoulders, pinching flesh and bracing bone.

The past few nights have been many things - exhausting, enlightening, disheartening - and she’d expected the sun to rise on Atlas, saved from the brink of Oblivion. General Ironwood had seen to it personally that the opposite would come true.

And she had been complicit in it all.

“You’re really going along with this, Winter?” Marrow asks beside her, his voice coloured with shame - or perhaps she’s placing her own feelings where they fit best to give her busy mind some reprieve.

Still, appearances have to be kept until they’re in the clear, so she shoots him a stern glower. “Quiet.”

With a heavy sigh, Marrow’s head hangs in defeat. He’d been bold enough to call the General out on his hypocrisy, his misdemeanours, his promises broken not unlike Mantle below currently lay. For his words, Marrow would have taken a bullet. Winter had seen to it personally that the opposite would come true.

Winter would not be complicit any longer, despite the part played so well in front of her colleagues. She only hopes now that the thoughts hammering dully in her exhausted mind don’t hold such weight forever.

The elevator comes to their first stop, somewhere she’s sure her and Marrow will be out of sight, and she leads him towards the second elevator with a lighter hand than he’d been given before; admittedly, she feels perhaps a _bit_ guilty for her earlier treatment towards him, but she has appearances to maintain where Ironwood’s eyes can pry.

Down here, they join the ghosts in the empty halls of Atlas Academy, silent and unseen. She knows them all too well, the stories held in these walls but left unspoken. She lets them remain silent under the buzz of the vivid white lights above and hopes her thoughts will quiet down enough to join them.

She brings Marrow to the second elevator and immediately unbinds his hands. He reaches up to cradle his wrists immediately with a feeble pout, running his thumb where the cords had just been a moment ago and leaning away from Winter as if the fury of her own mind could lash out at him and flash freeze his skin.

“So...you’re not arresting me?”

Winter crosses her arms and faces forward; it’s hard to even look at him without her punitive thoughts returning tenfold. “No,” she murmurs, “Ironwood’s got to be stopped.”

They stand in silence for a moment, and Winter is more than thankful for the dull thrum of the elevator bringing them down to the brig keeping her thoughts blanketed and unheard. She can feel Marrow fuming beside her, the wag of his tail gusting air back and forth as his form enters her periphery.

“Then why did you hit me?” he shouts, shattering the silence. In that moment, the blanket is pulled and her thoughts return to the fold.

“Because you were about to get killed if I didn’t do something!” she fires back, pressing her finger into his chest to articulate her point. He looks down at her with wide, surprised eyes, and immediately her guilt comes flooding back, stirred by the same fear that had swam in his eyes moments before he would have taken his bullet. 

(You’re no worse than him. Your bones wear the same metal, the same wires. You’ll never be rid of his influence.)

Winter shies away immediately, and Marrow turns from her with an incensed grunt. For now, it doesn’t matter what he thinks of her. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of her - after all, none of it will match her own feelings towards her actions.

(None of what you do now will make up for what you’ve already done.)

A heavy exhale escapes her lips, and she reaches into her belt for her Scroll. She may not be able to make up for yesterday’s transgressions, but she’d be remiss if she didn’t work towards a better present, or an unknown future. She lifts her finger, frail and aching as it may be, and begins searching her contacts for Weiss’ name before attempting to call her. At the very least, she can start where forgiveness may not be such a barren request.

Marrow peers over her shoulder with a curled lip. “What are you doing?”

Another sigh escapes her lips, this one belonging to the admission of her own shame. “What I should have done ages ago. I’m getting in touch with my sister. We’re going to need help.”

‘Help’ is an understatement; they’re going to need a miracle. Weiss had believed in them ever since she was a child, long after Winter had frozen most of her hope away, only to be thawed when miracles came true.

Perhaps it’s time to redeem that hope, she reckons. If anyone can bring a miracle-

The elevator door opens with a resonant  _ ding! _ , and Winter’s eyes shoot open in surprise at the sight of Qrow and Robyn, armed to the teeth and determination struck across their features, on the other side.

-or perhaps she’s already found one.

A taut silence lingers between the two pairs, and suddenly hope is so much closer than she’d ever let it be to her. “Speaking of help-”

It doesn’t take long for Qrow to interrupt her, charging forward with Harbinger’s blade raised above. Fury seems to overtake him if the rasp in his roar or the veins in his arm pulsing are anything to go by, and his swing is heavy, a high-pitched whistle and weighted ring echoing in its wake as Winter sidesteps the attack.

Marrow rushes out of the elevator as Winter raises her hands in defense; her muscles seize, a stinging pain wracking her body in defiance of her rapid dodge. Her weapon sits at her waist, ready to defend herself with, but she knows her body wouldn’t allow her to without furious, painful objection.

The past few days have made her weak. There’s no way she can fight back and come out victorious, and she doesn’t want to fight, either. Their blades are better directed towards Ironwood, and she won’t get anywhere drawing it elsewhere.

“Qrow, wait!” Winter calls out, a sentiment echoed by Robyn. Winter’s vision darts briefly to her, seeing the bolt loaded into her wrist crossbow and trained on Qrow, though her expression betrays a different idea.

Qrow stops, craning his head towards Winter. He looks vicious, sleep pulling dark circles under his bloodied eyes while his mouth curls into a violent sneer. Still, he stays his weapon, though his focus remains on her.

He waits. Everyone waits. Winter freezes, and even her own thoughts wait to contradict any words she might speak.

“Qrow,” Winter begins, “we’re on your side. We want to stop Ironwood.”

She watches him consider her admission, and though her newfound hope leaves her wanting him to believe her, she also understands his hesitation. She quickly looks over her shoulder to Robyn, who has now lowered her weapon and is watching the situation unfold with a curious frown. Somehow, she hopes Robyn believes her even more.

Qrow begins to lift his weapon again, more threat than action but dangerous all the same. “Him I understand, but you?”

“Hey!”

“Qrow, please listen!” Winter pleads, hoping her words reach Robyn as well. “I know I’ve only ever given you reason to doubt me, but understand that I don’t want to see Mantle destroyed. You’re only going to be able to stop him with  _ our _ help.”

Qrow doesn’t lower his weapon, but his eyes dart quickly to Robyn. Winter follows his gaze to see Robyn’s lips pursed in thought, and Winter’s stomach nearly drops. Her silence is more damning than Qrow’s, her convictions more grounded. If she can’t see the truth in her words, then it was the wrong time to rely on hope.

Robyn’s expression softens and her gaze settles in Winter’s, far more gentle than she deserves but far more encouraging than it should be. “I believe her.”

Qrow still looks suspicious, his posture tense and his knuckles white around the hilt of his weapon. “You don’t think they’re still on his side? Pretending to side with us only to take us down?”

“Ironwood wouldn’t do that!” Marrow argues.

Qrow rolls his eyes, but Robyn lets out an easy chuckle.

“You’re right. He’s way too obtuse for a tactic like that.”

Winter sighs; perhaps Ironwood’s notorious stubbornness has played out well for them in this one instance.

Qrow remains skeptical, and Winter’s thoughts echo every thought she’d had in the trek to this location. He has no reason to trust her, after all, and it was foolish to think he would.

Beside her, she catches Robyn step into her periphery. Winter glances towards her and catches the smirk playing across her lips. “Take my hand, Winter.” When Winter hesitates (for several reasons, most of which she can’t put words to), Robyn grazes her knuckles encouragingly. “Trust me.”

Winter trusts her. Winter  _ has _ to trust her. It’s herself that she doesn’t quite trust, however. She doesn’t trust her own mind to clear the way for the truth, and she fears what the glow of red might say of her, what it might take from her. What it might confirm.

Robyn’s eyes are kind, kinder than they have any right to be. Her touch is gentle, something Winter has never known when asked to do things. Perhaps it’s the spell of her request spoken in kindness that propels her, a sensation so foreign to her that the ghosts of her memory fizzle in her mind for just a moment.

She takes Robyn’s hand and watches a pale violet swim across her knuckles, pooling on the back of her hand before falling up her wrist in a gentle current.

Robyn takes a deep breath. “Do you and Marrow want to take down Ironwood?”

“Yes.”

Green glows faintly between them, and Winter’s lungs release her taut breath.

“Do you want our help to take him down?”

“Yes.”

Green again, stronger this time. It reflects in Qrow’s gaze as he begins to lower his weapon.

Robyn turns now to Winter, and determination mixes into her otherwise gentle expression.

“Can we trust you?”

“Yes.” Winter says the word with the weight of her final breath, an apology for a bloody past and a promise for an unknowable future.

Green.

Robyn smiles and turns back to Qrow, her fingers still curled between Winter’s. For a moment, Winter thinks of staying there in the vibrant hum of green and the kindness of Robyn’s grasp. For a moment, Winter thinks this unknowable, unspeakable future could be painted such a hopeful colour.

“See? Nothing to worry about,” Robyn tells him smugly, pulling her hand from Winter and washing them both in the faint blue light from above.

Winter pulls her hand up and inspects it, drawing her thumb along the now-vanishing veins of green that had just blended with the blue of her own aura. How good it feels to be free, she reckons, and how beautiful a colour freedom is.

Qrow acquiesces and finally sheathes his own weapon before crossing his arms over his chest. “Alright. Fine. What’s your plan?”

All eyes fall on Winter, and it takes her a moment to shake herself from that quiet spell (which Robyn smirks at, and Winter can’t even hate that it strikes a hot blush across her cheeks when it feels so much better than the cold of Atlas she’s so used to). 

“Well,” she stammers, reaching for her Scroll, “I was going to get in contact with my sister. I assume your nieces should be with her by now.” She feels a pang of guilt strike her heart, followed by a surge of sharp pain in her scarred flesh. Her mind reminds her that she almost saw to the death of one of them, and her heart reminds her of the guilt she nearly carried when Salem’s whale had erupted in a flash of light. 

“That seems like a good start,” Robyn says. “You make the call and we’ll try and formulate a plan. We’re really gonna be needing all the help we can get.”

“Funny, we were actually thinking the exact same thing,” Marrow murmurs with a cheeky glance at Winter, which she shrugs off easily enough.

“Which is why I’m glad we happened upon you when we did,” Winter finishes. 

“Thank you for being honest,” Robyn says. It’s so sincere, and that sincerity is still so foreign to Winter but she can feel herself warming to it. She might have to tap this well more, if only to calm the roaring blizzard of internal self-loathing she’s left unspoken alongside all her ghosts.

“Thank you for trusting me,” Winter returns, and she tries to lace her own voice with as much sincerity. It feels as sweet on her tongue as it does new, and she knows she’d like to taste that sincerity once more should this unknowable future crumble to ash in the wake of fierce hellfire.

“Ahem!” 

Winter looks to Qrow, who holds his hand up as if he were holding a Scroll, waving it at Winter with an arched eyebrow. 

“Right.” Winter peers down at her own Scroll and at Weiss’ icon looking up at her with a mature optimism that she’s grown so proudly into. She only hopes that this one call can give her something else to be proud of.

Her Scroll buzzes several times, and Winter waits with bated breath and rampaging thoughts on the verge of a roar, blocked only by silence and faint veins of green. 

_ Buzz! _

(Your body is broken. Your bones are held together by metal and wires. You will break.)

(But you can do this.)

_ Buzz! _

(No one will believe you’ve changed. You haven’t changed, you only know which lies will work.)

(But you have to try.)

_ Buzz! _

(It’s too late to do what’s right.)

(But it’s still the right thing to do.)

Her mind finally goes quiet when she sees Weiss’ smile appear on her screen, and Winter finds another miracle.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all !! I wrote this missing scene because I felt very clowned by the episode (I don't mind at all that we didn't get crumbs, but let's just say I was not expecting to wear my clown shoes today aha). Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed !! As always I super appreciate comments and constructive feedback !!
> 
> Shout-out to [ Fiddle ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nirav/pseuds/nirav)for being this fic's second set of eyes !!! Defs be sure to check out her works !!
> 
> I'm @PatchoDraws on Twt and Tumblr, so be sure to come scream about V8 with me there !!
> 
> Thanks again for reading !! <3 Stay safe !!
> 
> (Also five points to anyone who gets the title <3 )


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